Saturday 13 August 2011 14.40 EDT
First published on Saturday 13 August 2011 14.40 EDT

Gervinho was dismissed on his Arsenal league debut as Arsène Wenger's side made an unconvincing start to life without Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri in another fractious encounter on Tyneside. Perhaps not quite as unconvincing as their memorable collapse in the corresponding fixture last season, when they managed to throw away a 4-0 interval lead and indicate to all concerned that they were unlikely to win the title, but unsatisfactory in the sense that they began a new campaign looking just like the side that finished the last one. A side looking tired and short of ideas.

Newcastle can be even happier with this point than the one they gained in such unpromising circumstances in January. They never looked like winning the game but they were never taken apart, either. They too were solid but uninspired, though at least for Newcastle that counts as improvement. There were chants of "Spend some of your money" from the end containing the Arsenal fans as full time approached, though it was impossible to tell whether there were home supporters joining in as well.

That seemed about as exciting as the day was going to get until a fracas in the Newcastle penalty area 14 minutes from the end. Gervinho was lying on the floor attempting to make a meal of minimal contact in a fair challenge by Cheik Tioté when Joey Barton came across to tell him to get on with the game. Gervinho took offence, a scuffle turned into a melee and, amid all the handbags, the Ivorian connected with a girly slap to Barton's temple. Barton probably did not need to fall down as if poleaxed, though he did, and Peter Walton probably did not have to produce a red card, though he did. Barton was given a yellow card, which was possibly slightly harsh, and Alex Song went unpunished after an earlier stamp on Barton, which was caught by the cameras. The Newcastle player was far more sinned against than sinning here, yet in almost identical circumstances, with Barton involved both times, Arsenal went down to 10 men for a second successive season in this fixture. The only difference this time was that Newcastle were not inspired to score four goals.

"I will have to have a good look at it again before we decide whether to appeal," Wenger said. "I don't think Gervinho deserved to be sent off, and I don't know how the decision was made because I am 100% sure the referee and the linesman did not get a good view of the incident. I think there should have been a yellow card to each player or a red card to each player."

Arsenal began with the slick, quick passing game that got them off to such a good start here last season, without seeing anything like the same results. They lacked penetration and precision, though Gervinho showed up well in the opening exchanges. He found space in the Newcastle penalty area after just a couple of minutes, after Andrey Arshavin and Robin van Persie had made the initial inroads, but wanted too much time to release a shot. Then he turned up on the left wing, dancing round Danny Simpson and putting in a decent cross that needed a sharper reaction from Van Persie.

Simpson made a timely intervention to prevent Arshavin's cross from the right reaching the Gervinho in the 13th minute before Newcastle launched their first attack of any note, Wojciech Szczesny diving to his left to make a near-post stop after Barton's raking pass had freed Simpson on the right.

Jonás Gutiérrez flashed a spectacular volley well wide midway through the first half, but with Newcastle repeatedly giving the ball away, and Arsenal missing the invention of Fábregas and Jack Wilshere, the game was already settling down into an ordinary sort of midfield struggle, nothing like last term's goalfest.

As if to prove the point, when Arshavin stayed onside after almost half an hour and had a great chance to play Gervinho clear with only Tim Krul to beat, he managed to pass straight to Fabricio Coloccini.

Moments after that Krul failed to deal with a corner from Tomas Rosicky and Simpson had to prevent the ball crossing the line.

Just as one of the most yawnful of opening-day first halves was drawing to a close, Arshavin managed to create something out of nothing with a scooped pass over the defence that caught Newcastle by surprise, but though Van Persie was ideally positioned to anticipate it and accept the ball, he again reacted too slowly to take advantage.

The reason Arsenal were four goals to the good at the same stage of the game last season was that almost everything they tried had worked to perfection, not to mention that Newcastle were a ragged mess. Here, Arsenal did not even try that much and Newcastle were much more secure at the back, not that being any less secure would have been a viable option.

This ought to have brought some cheer to the home support, though by the interval the Newcastle fans were becoming audibly dissatisfied with their side's inability to offer any kind of threat going forward. Set pieces seemed Newcastle's best hope of pinching something, and most teams have found them profitable against Arsenal, yet in the first half at least Newcastle failed to put Szczesny's goal under any significant threat from the few free kicks and corners they managed to win.

Alan Pardew attempted to change that at half-time by sending on Gabriel Obertan for the ineffective Demba Ba, stationing the former Manchester United winger in the middle in the hope his pace could trouble the Arsenal central defence. The French player spent a frustrating couple of years at Old Trafford struggling to make sufficient impression to break into the team and has signed a five-year deal at Newcastle in the expectation of getting regular games, so he must have been relieved at not having to spend the whole afternoon on the bench.

Wenger responded by bringing on pace of his own after an hour and Theo Walcott was into the game quicker than Obertan, bringing a save from Tim Krul with one of his first touches when he possibly had the time to do better.

If it is any consolation to Arsenal, they performed better with 10 men than they did last time, taking the game to their opponents and looking the more likely to score. Newcastle's best attempt of the last few minutes was a rising drive from Barton that flew well over, much to Wenger's relief. A late winner from Barton would have been just too much.